Skyscape announces availability Of Services On G-Cloud 5

Skyscape Cloud Services Limited says that its full range of assured cloud services will be available on the latest iteration of the G-Cloud Framework – G-Cloud 5.
“As a long-standing supporter of the G-Cloud Framework – which has succeeded in transforming the procurement of IT services for public sector buyers and has created a more level playing field for providers – we welcome the latest iteration and are pleased to confirm that our full range of cloud services, which have recently achieved re-accreditation by CESG PGA to Impact Level 3 (IL3), will be available via G-Cloud 5,” said Phil Dawson, CEO of Skyscape Cloud Services. “In line with our ongoing commitment of continually enhancing our services and ensuring the best value for money for our public sector customers, we are delivering further price reductions, free PSN data transfer and have made a significant investment in our Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering.”

Having successfully achieved certification for its services being delivered over the Public Services Network (PSN), Skyscape will offer free data transfer over the PSN across its Impact Level 2 (IL2) Compute, Storage and Collaboration services via G-Cloud 5. Dawson commented: “As a provider with PSN certified services, our public sector customers are already able to connect securely to our solutions via PSN. But with the launch of free PSN data transfer, we aim to help accelerate the adoption of services being delivered over the PSN and enable the public sector to adopt assured cloud services at both IL2 and IL3 more securely and at lower cost.”

“The PSN strategy is at the heart of the UK Government’s digital agenda, as it provides a trusted network based on common standards over which public sector organisations can safely connect and share services in order to collaborate in new ways, more effectively and efficiently than before,” said Phil Gibson, Chairman of the industry association PSNGB.

Skyscape’s offering of free data transfer over IL2 PSN will support the positive changes that are being made possible by the wider adoption of the network, and expand the number of G-Cloud services available via the PSN.

Separately, Skyscape has announced a 66 percent reduction in the cost of Internet bandwidth as well introducing a service enabling customers to ingest their data offline.

In addition, Skyscape will introduce new pricing models on G-Cloud 5, with a new virtual machine subscription model that complements its existing pay-by-the-hour usage model. The launch of an annual subscription will enable public sector organisations to benefit from discount rates for virtual machines that will be required for longer periods, and will allow customers to tailor their service to their needs, by mixing longer-term subscription models with pay-as-you-go services, in order to achieve a balance between efficiency and flexibility.

Further investment in the Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering encompasses both an elastic, open source application platform, based on Cloud Foundry and a secure, flexible data platform, based on Apache Hadoop. This innovative new PaaS model is designed to help public sector organisations undertake cost-effective Proof of Concept projects. These new Skyscape services perfectly complement a range of new Specialist Consulting Services (SCS) available from Skyscape partners in G-Cloud 5 to help customers undertake cost-effective PoC’s.

Skyscape has also launched ‘Syncplicity’, a secure and flexible alternative to solutions such as Dropbox. Closely aligned with the Government’s strategy for end user devices, Syncplicity enables content to be synchronised across devices and securely shared within and between departments. Furthermore, all customer data is stored in UK data centres and is never subject to foreign data privacy issues.

Skyscape’s partner programme has also gone from strength to strength, with over 100 organisations now contractually signed as partners. Widely recognised as a ‘partner of choice’ due to its competitive pricing, PGA accreditation, PSN connectivity and technical capability, Skyscape is fully committed to working with partners as it recognises that its assured cloud platform in collaboration with the offerings of System Integrators, Managed Service Providers and ISVs is a compelling proposition for the 30,000 UK public sector organisations able to procure G-Cloud services.